ROLE
Lead Designer
FOCUS AREAS
Design, Research, Testing
TIMELINE
2022 - 2023
THE PROBLEM
Onboarding and ordering valuations from the main site was a time consuming process that heavily relied on manual workflows.
For more than 20 years, ClearCapital's onboarding and valuation ordering system has been a trustworthy platform for property valuations, serving as a dependable way for banks, loan officers and real estate professionals to get a reliable and accurate valuation of a property.
But as the mortgage landscape evolved, surging demand and an increasingly complex market resulted in an effort to make the ordering process more efficient and make data analytic tools more accessible.
Design research
Understanding the problem
This project was especially interesting as it involved two different products - the legacy system and the new portal which would eventually replace it. We worked closely with our engineering to understand the complexities and limitations of our existing system.
We interviewed several support staff and customers throughout the process to gain insights into their current workflow and pain points.
Manual Onboarding
Onboarding customers was time consuming and had to be manually processed and verified by staff.
Missing Requirements
Necessary information was not always mandated which led to delays during order placement.
Poor Order Management
Users had to walk through a series of steps outside of the website or contact support to make changes.
Inefficient Communication
Staff teams were utilizing several tools across various mediums to engage with customers.
Inefficient Scheduling
Vendors manually reached out to the borrowers to schedule the inspection through email or phone.
Minimal Product Details
Customers often relied on past experiences or lender provided information while ordering.
Establishing goals
How might we streamline and modernize our systems to improve efficiency and attract new customers?
Automate Processes
Eliminate or greatly reduce reliance on support members to ensure faster delivery and fewer delays.
Attract New Customers
Fintech startups, private money and other institutions are looking frictionless and accurate valuations.
Replace Legacy System
Current website was implemented in Cold Fusion. Maintaining the site was becoming expensive.
Design process
Discover, define, design and deliver
The overall process was iterative and required us to revisit our steps and approach at times to gain a deeper understanding of any issues that arose. This flexibility allowed us to overcome challenges and make modifications to our approach as needed. Through continuous collaboration and feedback from stakeholders and users, we were able to optimize and fine-tune our solution.
That said, there were four key stages: Discover, Define, Design, and Deliver.
1
Discover
2
Define
3
Design
4
Deliver
We interviewed support staff and customers to gain insights into current processes, identify pain points, and explore opportunities for improvement. Additionally, we analyzed some of our competitors to gain a understanding of the current market and ensure that our solution would be competitive and meet customer needs.
User Interviews
Competitor Analysis
Journey Map
research summary
Existing systems were very reliant on interaction with support staff, had poor usability and limited scalability due to manual onboarding.
With the insights we received through our conversations combined with our project goals, I designed the user interface with the goal of simplifying the user experience. We optimized the sign-up process, streamlined the ordering flow, and added intuitive options and actions to the interface to allow users to easily accomplish their tasks without having to contact customer support.
Home page, users can search for any address or explore a product.
Product overview page, allows users to get a quick preview of the product.
All Orders table, allows teams to collaborate and keep track of their purchases.
Checkout page, only the necessary information is required, provides a short summary of the order
Promotional banner advertising free reports on sign up.
Sign up, allows users to quickly enter information and join the portal.
Emails, sent to the user's address for verification.
Order page, information displayed changes based on the report type.
Future consideration: Admin tools: Designed to empower teams to easily manage their users, billing information, product configurations and API integration.
Impact
Transforming eCommerce valuations with our new self-service ordering platform.
88%
reduction in turn time for new customers
40%
cost savings on switching to internal comms
We picked a few more wins along the way that will help us scale and improve the platform.
Flexible Foundation
We designed the system to help us add more products easily.
No interaction with staff
None of the customers in the pilot phase had to reach out to support.
Improvements in legacy system
We added new features that would help us in the short term.